Newswire Paris: Hundreds of members and staff of the European Parliament had a surprise when their train from Brussels to the French city of Strasbourg ended up at Disneyland Paris instead. The special train is chartered once a month to get MEPs between parliament’s seats in Brussels and Strasbourg. But a signalling error on Monday […]
Read MoreBrussels: Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman whose death in police custody sparked a wave of women’s rights protests in Iran, has been awarded the European Union’s top human rights prize. Amini, along with Iran’s Women, Life and Freedom movement that emerged in a months-long street protest campaign following her death, received the EU’s Sakharov […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels: The European Commission has announced that it will increase its humanitarian aid to Gaza by three times, providing over 75 million euros to help alleviate the current crisis. President Ursula von der Leyen spoke to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres this afternoon regarding her on-going contacts with regional leaders. “The Commission will immediately […]
Read MoreBrussels: At its conference in Bilbao, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) this week urged the European Union to launch a European action plan stepping up cooperation between national health systems. The main goal: to provide better diagnoses, treatment and care to patients with rare diseases. A European strategy to give people with rare […]
Read MoreCelina Ali Islamabad: European Union Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Riina Kionka this week clarified that the EU MEPs’ decision to roll over the rules on Pakistan’s GSP Plus status has been proposed to avoid a “cliff edge” at the end of the year, is unrelated to Pakistan’s performance, and that monitoring will continue. Ambassador Kionka […]
Read MoreCharles Michel:President of the European Council Europe and the world have faced global challenges in recent years: combating global warming, the pandemic, war on European soil, the energy crisis. We have also seen a temptation to turn inwards, and a questioning of the fundamental principles of peaceful coexistence and cooperation. Over the last four years, […]
Read MoreCelina Ali Islamabad: The European Union has released an additional one million euros in humanitarian aid to respond to floods that directly or indirectly affected some 900,000 people in the past weeks. The new funding comes in addition to the 16.5 million euros already allocated in humanitarian assistance to Pakistan earlier this year, in order […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels: The president of the European Parliament said Sunday she has conveyed the legislative body’s support for the appointment of a United Nations envoy to evaluate the chances of resuming stalemated talks to reunify ethnically divided Cyprus. Roberta Metsola said she personally communicated the position of the European Union’s legislature to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio […]
Read MoreLiaquat Ali Islamabad: The European Union (EU) is currently deliberating the extension of Pakistan’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) status for an additional four years, until 2027. The decision to extend these trade privileges, which grant Pakistan preferential access to EU markets, follows the endorsement of recommendations by the European Council and is currently under […]
Read MoreCovert Report Brussels: European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson this week sent a list of questions to Poland’s Foreign Ministry in response to reports that the country’s consulates issued hundreds of thousands of visas in Asia and Africa in exchange for bribes. Though the answer from Poland came quick, Johannsson’s spokeswoman said it was “not […]
Read MoreCelina Ali Brussels: The EU tourism industry is experiencing a strong recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first half of 2023, the number of nights spent in tourist accommodations reached its highest level in the past decade, signalling a notable resurgence in the industry’s performance in many countries. In the first […]
Read MoreArslan Ali Arsal Brussels: The European Union’s lead regulator has slapped TikTok with a 345 million euro ($368m) fine for breaching laws on the processing of children’s personal data, the first time the popular short video-sharing app has been punished for violating Europe’s strict data privacy rules. The Chinese-owned short-video platform, which has grown rapidly […]
Read MoreCelina Ali Islamabad: The European Union announced this week the launching of a new project that would contribute to migrant protection in Pakistan covering all phases of migration, including countering and preventing irregular migration, trafficking in human beings and smuggling of migrants. A new migrants resource centre is being opened in Peshawar, joining the existing […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels: The European Union castigated Russia this week for pulling out of the Black Sea grain deal, calling its offer of a million tons of grain to African countries a “parody of generosity”. Charles Michel, president of the European Council, told the annual G20 summit in New Delhi that the 2022 grain accord had […]
Read MoreCelina Ali Belgrade: The European Union must be ready to admit new member states by 2030, European Council President Charles Michel told a forum in the Slovenian lake resort of Bled. “I believe we must be ready by 2030 to enlarge,” Michel said. “This is ambitious, but necessary. It shows that we are serious.” The […]
Read MoreCelina Ali Islamabad: Pakistan has set expectations high for the restoration of direct flight operations in the United Kingdom (UK) and Europe after the upcoming visits of their aviation audit teams. A delegation from the British safety agency, Department for Transport (DfT), will visit Pakistan at the end of October. During its visit, the DfT […]
Read MoreArslan Ali Arsal Brussels: In foreign policy, to know what to do, requires having access to the best information on what is happening on the ground. The EU Satellite Centre plays a key role informing EU foreign policy actors with detailed satellite imagery. Its work deserves more resources and attention. Last week, EU foreign affairs […]
Read MoreCelina Ali Islamabad: Caretaker Prime Minster Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Friday stressed the need to continue the GSP Plus scheme which served the interests of both Pakistan and the European Union. The prime minister, in a meeting with EU Ambassador to Pakistan Riina Kionka, who called on him, emphasized the significant role of the GSP Plus […]
Read MoreArslan Ali Arsal Brussels: EU foreign ministers called on Thursday for a meeting with their counterparts from Ukraine and the western Balkans — all candidate countries to the bloc — by the end of September to discuss the enlargement process. “I think that the war in Ukraine has had a collateral effect that is to […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels: European Union countries are preparing to push for a global deal on phasing out fossil fuels at the United Nations COP28 climate summit which begins in November, a draft of the EU’s negotiating position showed. Diplomats from the bloc’s 27 member states are drafting their position for the summit in Dubai, where nearly […]
Read MoreLiaquat Ali London: The UK government is considering establishing a short-term visa programme that would help bring foreign workers into the country without affecting population rates and tackling labour shortages in the hospitality sector. According to reports by The Times, the Home Office has initiated negotiations with some EU countries for more youth mobility schemes […]
Read MoreArslan Ali Arsal Islamabad: Speakers at a workshop on climate change held here Wednesday observed that a mass level of cooperation between EU counties and Pakistan can help mitigate climate change effects in the country due to the release of green gases and CO2. The workshop titled “Emerging Trends and Technologies: Carbon Capture and Storage, […]
Read MoreAbida Shaheen Islamabad: The EU has rejected reports that it is not open to a new deal with the UK on returning people who have crossed the Channel, after a leak of purported discussions between London and Brussels. A leaked copy of a memo on discussions with the UK’s national security adviser, Sir Tim Barrow, […]
Read MoreNewswire Islamabad: In 2022, the EU produced 3.2 billion litres of ice cream, marking a 5% increase from the previous year. Among the EU countries, Germany was the main producer of ice cream in 2022, producing 620 million litres of ice cream, followed by France (591 million litres) and Italy (571 million litres). As well […]
Read MoreCelina Ali Islamabad: Under the European Union-funded ‘Deliver Justice Project’, the Legal Aid and Justice Authority (LAJA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) here on Sunday jointly organized a two-day consultative workshop to improve access to legal aid in Pakistan. The workshop brought together representatives from the government, rule of law institutions, national and […]
Read MoreAbida Shaheen Islamabad: As Pakistan’s 76th Independence Day approaches, European Union Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Riina Kionka along with other musicians paid a special tribute to the country by performing a rendition of the national anthem — ‘Pak Sarzamin (thy sacred land)’. “This rendition is a celebration of the rich cultural diversity of Pakistan and […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels: The European Union’s nuclear agency, Euratom, says it sees no immediate risks to the EU’s nuclear power production should Niger cut its deliveries of uranium due to its military coup. Eurotom told the Reuters news agency that the bloc had enough uranium inventories to fuel its nuclear power reactors for three years. “If […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels; The European Union has suspended financial support and cooperation on security with Niger with immediate effect after the military coup there this week. Announcing the sanctions, the EU’s foreign policy head, Josep Borrell, said: “In addition to the immediate cessation of budget support, all cooperation actions in the domain of security are suspended […]
Read MoreAbida Shaheen A European Parliament draft report about online services’ addictive design paints a damning picture of the mental health consequences of excessive screen time and calls for new EU rules to address the problem. Addictive design, which refers to capturing users’ attention so they spend as much time on platforms as possible, has been […]
Read MoreCelina Ali The European Union’s watchdog on Wednesday launched an investigation into the role Frontex played in one of the deadliest migrant shipwrecks in recent history. Among the documents EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has demanded access to is the formal report by the Union’s external border agency about how events unfolded when the Adriana boat […]
Read MoreLiaquat Ali Sales of new electric battery vehicles overtook diesel car purchases in Europe for the first time last month but activity is far from pre-pandemic levels, a lobby group said. In June, the market share for cars running on electric batteries rose to 15.1%, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), with more […]
Read MoreAbida Shaheen The Council of the European Union approved a regulation to strengthen Europe’s presence in the world of semiconductors, better known as “Chips Act”. The legislation aims to create better conditions for European countries to get into semiconductor manufacturing, attract investments, promote research and innovation and prepare the continent for any future supply chain […]
Read MoreAbida Shaheen Brussels: The European Union and the Community of Latin American and the Caribbean states (CELAC) held their 3rd Summit in Brussels. The meeting gathered Heads of State and Government of the EU Member States and of the 33 CELAC states for the first time in eight years. President of the European Commission Ursula […]
Read MoreNewswire Brussels: The European Union (EU) said on Tuesday that Europe’s slave-trading past inflicted “untold suffering” on millions of people and hinted at the need for reparations for what it described as a “crime against humanity”. From the 15th to the 19th century, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported by mostly […]
Read MorePackage includes projects to extract minerals, electrify bus fleets and help protect Amazon rainforest Celina Ali Brussels: EU leaders in Brussels have announced €45bn (£39bn) in investments to Latin America and the Caribbean, some of which will speed the shift to clean energy, but made little headway thawing a frozen trade deal that critics say […]
Read MoreCelina Ali The Commission is awarding over €3.6 billion to 41 large-scale clean tech projects, to be financed through the EU Innovation Fund. With a focus on the REPowerEU Plan and phasing out Europe’s imports of Russian fossil fuels, these projects cover a wide range of industries, such as cement, steel, advanced biofuels, sustainable aviation […]
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